Slovenia PM-Designate Backs Croatia EU treaty

New leader of Slovenia says her country will not stand in the way of Croatia’s membership of the European Union.

Zagreb

Ratification of Croatia's European Union accession treaty is not just a question of good-neighbourly relations but is also in Slovenia's strategic interest, Slovenia’s Prime Minister-designate Alenka Bratusek told the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List on Sunday.

“The Slovenian and Croatian economies are inseparably connected. The opening of the borders after Croatia's entry into the EU will additionally boost the intense economic cooperation between the two countries,” Bratusek said, reaffirming the position she presented in the Slovenian parliament on Wednesday about the need to ratify the treaty.

“I am looking forward to the time when citizens of Croatia and Slovenia will no longer meet the police at the border and when there will no longer be lines of vehicles, especially trucks, waiting to cross the border,” she added.

Bratusek said that just like many of her compatriots she liked to spend her summer holidays on Croatia’s Adriatic coast.

On Wednesday the Slovenian parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the right-wing government of Janez Jansa and appointed Positive Slovenian party leader Alenka Bratusek as Prime Minister-designate.